Whole area is not under quarantine but declared as Red Zone: CMO Bandipora
Yasmeen Manzoor
Srinagar : Bandipora district administration has started carrying out Rapid Antigen Tests for mass screening after it emerged as one of the worst hit localities across the whole valley, with as many as 91 positive cases of novel Coronavirus followed by Srinagar with 79.
Of the total 368 positive cases of deadly Covid-19 across union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as many as 98 confirmed positive cases were detected in Bandipora district with 41 cases in Gundjangeer village alone, making it one of the COVID-19 hotspot area in the district.
Following the constant rise in the positive cases, the administration has started rapid door to door tests in the whole district while 12618 contact persons have been traced so far and put under quarantine.
Earlier, the district also reported the death of one positive COVID-19 patient, from tehsil Hajin on April 07, taking the total death toll across the valley to five.
While talking to Kashmir News Bureau on phone, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Bandipora, Dr.Tajamul revealed that all the 91 confirmed positive cases in the district are well stable, he said, “All the confirmed positive cases from the whole district are not community transmission but are the close contacts of corona affected persons detected out during surveillance, fortunately all the 91 positive cases till date are stable.”
When asked if entire area is in quarantine, he replied, “The whole area is not under quarantine but the entire area has been declared Red Zone as per Standard operating procedures(SOP) so as to trace the maximum number of close contacts of the affected ones.”
Door to door rapid IGB, IGM Antigen antibody immunity tests are being conducted and so far 12618 close contacts of the affected one have been traced by the assigned 73 surveillance team, he said.
In a response to a query regarding the quarantine centres setup in the district he said, “we have developed 70 to 80 bedded low risk isolation centre with all facilities at Sundarbani Maternity hospital and have deployed doctors , paramedics and all the respective staff there, till date 9 positive patients have been admitted there and all are stable.”
He further said, “I am proud of my team who work very hard day and night to trace the maximum no of affected persons and their close contacts and I am sure with the team support and hard work we will soon make the Bandipora district free of this deadly virus.”
When Kashmir News Bureau contacted Divisional Commissioner Bandipora, Shabaz Mirza he said, “We have imposed complete restrictions on the movement of people and after receiving Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits, the medical staff have also started conducting the tests at the doorstep of the people in the Red Zones.”
“The close contact traces of the affected ones have been traced and hopefully everything will be stabilized in few days,” he further added(KNB)
